Tag Archives: Col

No kidding:- Col, Kev and Sir Roger De Coverley’s ageing roue descendant all hit up the Castlemaine Jam (which was a good one by all accounts), a lot of jammers were away furiously arranging a Port Fairy set list or three, in the hope that they could fool at least some of their audience into thinking they know what they are doing; Il Duce, who quietly sets up the room each week, was in Queensland, and we had everything shipshape and Bristol fashion by about half an hour late…when a gentlemanly rump fronted a very quiet Leinster Arms for the obligatory afternoon of doing things differently.

And how different they were… Peter Garam produced the first firework of the day Continue reading →

It has been, as ever, an interesting 12 months – started brightly with several good jam sessions, then hit a sour note with the passing of Bob Vinard, although the session with so many of his mates was a beauty. Several jammers went to Inverloch, Halls Gap, and Ballarat for the Australian Jazz Convention. The extra 3B copy boy (ed: aka Ted)managed to join the cardiac club and we had to give up the Laika residency. Colonel T (retd) took the newsletter in a somewhat surreal direction for a while. Gill and Tina started to sound good. The middle of the year saw us all toddle off to Castlemaine – the usual suspects, plus debutante G and T sounding very good. Katerina singing up a storm, Il Presidente Doug on top of everything and still managing to play sessions, the Captain grinning from ear to ear all weekend as he should.

Come August, the newsletter fell in a hole as both Editor and extra 3B reserve copyboy went to Europe, and we had our smallest ever session with just 8 peeps turning up. About 8 weeks later, we had our second biggest session ever… and I seem to recall some hot sessions with the Clark mob, Ade Ishs and a few other monsters after that.

So …

The Most Indefatigable Award:Colonel T for playing a whole session – twice. We also considered him for playing the same solo more times than anyone else – 16 bars single note, 16 bars playing in octaves, and pull a face on arrival: played over bossa, bebop, swing, blues, and in every time signature and tempo.

Most Improved Drummer:Bruce. Have you been taking lessons?

Most Improved Singer: Katerina, but only because Annie was already good

Biggest Train Wreck: close run thing between the Curtis/Chaos Round Midnight debacle, and Annie Smith for whatever that godawful tune was. We’ll wait for the drug tests and award this one later.

Noisiest Saxophone:Laurie’s is bigger than Tony Wharton’s, so maybe this one goes to Laurie by a whisker. I am sure we will be able to enjoy Tony’s solos once he gets to Bangkok. At least they both play damn well.

And a big thanks to whoever gets all the gear set out, and also packs it up at the end of every session, along with wrangling the pack in between. I think his name is Col.

Which is why we have Joys Njambi singing this Friday. Joys continues to develop her jazz repertoire, and is back at the Royal Standard Hotel – with Omar Cruz on bass, Michael Finlay on drums, TW on piano and Captain Chaos hisself on saxophone. Continue reading →

The Castlemaine Jazz Festival: Annual General Meeting: Sunday 6th September at the Cumberland Hotel, Castlemaine ,1.00pm

This should be an interesting opportunity for Castlemaine locals to put their hand up for a role on, beside or beneath the Committee. Doug Kuhn, Col Garrett, John Hannah, Rob Hall and meself have nominated to go round again, and we are hopeful of getting a couple of locals to join us. Anyone from the Jammers is welcome to attend, and members are encouraged to nominate, provided you are prepared to put in around 400 hours, and drive 2,750km for the meetings.

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I'm taking a break this weekend. But I wouldn't leave you hanging. Here's a fascinating documentary on Art Pepper—Notes From a Jazz Survivor. The film provides a candid view of the alto saxophonist's struggles to keep his head above water and the role his wife, Laurie Pepper, played in giving him a reason to straighten up and fly right... […]

Well, it's Friday once again. A long week. So let's tilt our seats back, put up our feet and jet down to Rio. Here are four fab videos of bossa nova founders that I found surfing around on YouTube yesterday: Here's Luiz Bonfa playing his Batucada, Tenderly, Manhã de Carnaval and Menina Flor... Here's João Gilberto playing his Desafinado.. […]

Stax Records was the South's answer to Motown and Atlantic, and the African-American response to the British Invasion and folk-rock. Founded in Memphis in 1957 by Jim Stewart and his sister, Estelle Axton, the company began as Satellite Records but changed its name in 1961. Jim and Estelle took the first two letters of their last names and combined them […]